Felt yardage calculator

Before any felt project I answer one question: how much felt do I buy? Cut short and the whole tutorial run stops; too much and the scrap bin wins again. This estimator does the arithmetic — you enter your pieces, it tells you the yardage with a 10% cushion.

felt pieces

How many Finished length in Finished width in

Add another piece Seam allowance per edge (in) Felt width 36 in — standard craft felt 72 in — wide wool blend Custom width Custom width (in) Estimate yardage

How the math works: each finished piece gains twice your seam allowance (both edges), then I check how many of those cut pieces lie across your felt's width. Whatever doesn't fit starts a second row, and rows keep stacking until the count is made. Total inches divided by 36 is your exact yardage — I add 10% because one misjudged cut eats that much fast. If the calculator warns that a piece is wider than your felt, rotate it or find wider stock.

Thickness matters for feel, not area: 1mm acrylic cuts and frays differently than 3mm wool blend — the thicker felt holds a blanket stitch without a stabilizer, the thin kind wants one. The math above is the same for both. One more habit worth keeping: check your felt's actual width on the shelf, because "36 inch" felt sometimes measures 34.

Applies straight to the felt tutorials — baby shoes, bunting, hair accessories — and to Halloween costume projects when you scale up. Supplies from there feed the cost calculator.